Various types of memories are designed to be erased and programmed in large sections of the memory, and are generally referred to as flash memory. Such memory devices can sustain a limited number of erase cycles during their operational lifespan. The number of erase cycles that a flash memory can sustain and continue to reliably operate may be expressed as the endurance of the memory device. Generally, a given memory cell of a flash memory device can currently be erased between 10,000 and 100,000 times before it fails to reliably operate. The endurance of a memory device may depend on the semiconductor processes used to manufacture the device, and the architecture of the memory device.
Flash memory is common in various conventional electronic devices. When the endurance of the flash memory is exceeded, the performance of the flash memory and/or the electronic device containing the flash memory may be adversely impacted, or it may even stop operating. Accordingly, there is a continued need for improving the endurance of memory device such as flash memory.
In addition, flash memory devices come in various geometries and sizes, requiring different ECC protection, use different protocols, operate in single data rate (SDR) and/or double data rate (DDR) mode. Accordingly, there is continued need for improving the controller interface to operate with different flash memory devices.